Customer Reviews

Morris On

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Those who enjoy Steeleye Span, Albion Band, the New St. George, and their ilk will love this album. The performers are something of an English folk all-star band, many of whom have performed with Albion and Steeleye. The tunes are traditional, the arrangements electric, but respectfully so, and sometimes electrifying even after 25 years.

Not strictly a Richard Thompson album, although he does contribute guitar and some vocals. Morris On was masterminded by bassist Ashley Hutchings shortly after leaving Steeleye Span. Seeking to meld rock and roll with the English country folk tradition, he gathered old chums Thompson, John Kirkpatrick, Barry Dransfield and Dave Mattacks to produce a weird and wonderful concoction of turbocharged folk dances with the unlikely accompaniment of morris bells and sticks. As a precurser of The Albion Band it is a valuable historical document but is also jolly great fun in its own right.

The guy who sees this folk-rock classic solely as a Richard Thompson missed the point. This is a key element in the discography of Ashley Hutchings, who coufounded Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span, and the Albion Band. Richard played as a session man (and briefly toured with the Albion Country Band) but this album is about traditional tunes with a rock beat, not original songwriting or guitar heroism.

I am a guitar performance major with a minor in composition at McNally Smith College of Music, who plays keyboard, built and taught himself to play Appalachian dulcimer, and a few months ago, I started teaching myself piano accordion, and became the musician for a Morris Team, The Gypsies (originally the Gypsy Girls). Now, it's only a couple of days before my first real performance with them at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival (not very period, but I'm dressed completely different for the festival).

Having really gotten into the mood, I decided to give this album a listen, along with Son of Morris On, Grandson of Morris On, and Great Grandson of Morris On. I personally felt that no matter how good any of the other albums can be, it was Morris On that I grew up with. I knew that album even before I was three, which was when I got into the Beatles, and my musical taste changed.

Having listened to all four albums, the other albums might be bigger in quantity, and they were done by a wider variety of artists, as opposed to this album, which was nearly done by a band, with a few guest appearances from other people. I like some of the stuff that was done on the later albums, but as I said, this is the album I heard as a child. It's also the most solid album as an album, probably due to the fact that it was done primarily by a single band.

The way that both of my parents met was from Morris Dancing, so Morris Dancing has been a strong part of my life. My parents actually had a lot of Morris Dancing at their wedding, including their wedding march starting out with a stick dance done, where the dancers hold their sticks up as their parents walk beneath them, having the Abram Circle Dance (not always considered a Morris Dance) done around them, they did a Morris Jig dedicated to my mom's then recently deceased father, and they had a lot of Morris Dancing around the end of their party (my mom even changed from her wedding dress to her Morris Kit).

I also had heard many of the tunes on this album before having even seen some of the dances. "Willow Tree" was one of the tunes that stood out for me because one of my early memories, maybe even the first time I heard this album on cassette, started out probably with "Vandals of Hammerwich," but "Willow Tree" was the first tune I heard with singing, and it stood out more than "Vandals of Hammerwich." However, the only time I know of the dance having been performed, at least by any teams that I've grown up around (and Minnesota has more Morris Teams than any other state in the Midwest area of the States) is my parents' wedding. There might have been another time.

When listening to this album now, I feel that Ashley Hutchings is a wonderful bass player, and his bass playing on this album is some of the best work I've ever heard. Dave Mattacks isn't a bad drummer; he's not this multi-percussionist, a hard pounder, very fast, or the player of a giant drum kit. Dave Mattacks keeps the beat, which is very important for drummers to do, and I've discovered that it's more important in being a musician for Morris Dancers than playing the notes right, or even expression. John Kirkpatrick's work on accordion and concertina was definitely great. Barry Dransfield did a great job on fiddle with the first track "Morris Call." Richard Thompson's work as a guitar player isn't anything that will be voted as anything great in Guitar World magazine, but it works with the music. None of these musicians do anything to really showcase themselves as musicians, but they work for the music.

"Morris Call" is a great beginning, it starts out slow with just a fiddle, and then it gets more uptempo, and goes back to how it was at the beginning, and then the uptempo section is done with a full band. I don't remember which specific tune, or tunes it is, but I'm pretty sure I've seen the dance, or dances, sometime in my life.

On a lot of this album, they have the Chingford Morris Men doing dancing in the studio. What my dad thought was that a group of people just took morris bells and shook them right in front of the microphone, but there was actual dancing, which is great.

"Old Woman Tossed Up In A Blanket/Shepherds' Hey/Trunkles" is a great medley, and the spoken part at the beginning is something that Minnesota Traditional Morris do when they're performing. From what I understand, there are many dances called Shepherds' Hey, so I think they put at least two of them on. One of them is a dance that I learned a simplified version of with the Northern Lights, a children's Morris Team that I have now found myself being a musician for them because their practices are at around the same time, same place, and with the same teacher as the Gypsies. Trunkles is also a tune that I know very well

"Staines Morris" is one that I've rarely seen done as a dance. However, this recording, although not done that much like it really would be done for dancers, sounds wonderful. I feel that the guest singing of Shirley Collins on this track, and for "WIllow Tree" sounds great. I feel that having one of the men in the main band doing an additional part adds a lot more depth, and this track felt in some ways more like a more mystical sort of tune than a cheerful Morris Dance.

Bert Cleaver does a solo performance of "Vandals of Hammerwich" on pipe and tabor, which is probably the instrument that is most authentic to Morris Dancing in the early years although accordion has become the usual now. The dance is a dance that I have seen many times, and I probably did it a few times when I was with the Northern Lights (it was one of the mass dances).

"Cuckoo's Nest" is different as a dance, but the dance version is played at the end. Others have mentioned it as the highlighting point, and I can say that it is a shining moment.

"Morris Off" is a good tune, but I'm pissed that they bleeped out a word from "Hey Diddle Dis," but there might have been legal aspects.

The tracks that I didn't mention are also great tracks. I'm mentioning the tracks I mentioned because I can think of more to say on them, but I can say that for all of the tracks, they did a remarkable job.

Morris On might have had a son, a grandson, and a great grandson. However, Morris On is the one album to get, if you ask most people who've heard all four albums. It might also be that I'm more used to Morris On.

In conclusion, this album is the perfect album to listen to on a car ride to a Morris Ale, it really gets you in the mood. I think that my family would always take the cassette on our car rides to each Midwest Morris Ale that we went to.

I have this album on a cassette tape I purchased in the early eighties. I just love the sound of English folk music and the Morris sub-genre. The performers on this CD are superb. Enjoy!

Wonderful music for British folk rock and Morris Dance lovers.
Jump right into this cuckoo's nest of fine songs and instrumentals.

I noticed that amazon has posted all the reviews from the original cd release of this album on this, the remastered (or maybe just re-issued?) cd's page. There are no additional tracks (both versions appear to have 12 tracks), and nobody has mentioned in a review as to what makes this cd different than the previous version. There appears to be a version of this cd from 1991, and this one, from 2002. the 2002 version is selling for some $15, and the older version for more like $6, as of this review. This is a classic uk folk cd, but someone needs to chime in here to let us all know if it's worth plunking down the extra $ for the 2002 version.

..Being an avid Morris Dancer, I perchased this CD to go home and have a few practises of Morris Dancing. To my disappointment, it is apparant that no morris dancers were present at the time of recording as the musicians were just playing the tunes as if a K-tel "20 Morris Hits" sort of combilation CD, which was typical in the early 70's when this recording was made. However some tracks sounded live as if there was a morris dancer/morris dancing teams present which I practised to, this giving me a 3 star rating for this CD. Apart from this, this is a very good colection of Morris tunes which has not been matched so far to the present day. If B'Witched from Ireland can come up with some good Irish jigs then surely Eliza Carthy can dish something - Girl Power Morrissy - and carry Morris dancing into the new millineum !!!

A boring, unremarkable set of songs from the quintessential English folk artist of the late sixties and early seventies. Richard Thompson, who recently was voted # 19 best guitarist in a Rolling Stone poll, is virtually a non-factor. His guitar is barely audible, which is a major mistake, making the music dull and unrewarding. Don't get me wrong there are some moments in here but they are far and few between.